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Watford vs Tottenham match report: Son Heung-min scores late winner after goals from Erik Lamela and Odion Ighalo

Watford 1 Tottenham 2: Nathan Ake was sent off for the home team

Jack Pitt-Brooke

Monday 28 December 2015 18:08 GMT

Son Heung-min and Harry Kane celebrate

In the final minute here, Tottenham Hotspur fans and players must have wondered if this season was going to be any different after all. Pegged back by Watford, unable to break down 10 men, they were confronting what would have been their 12th and 13th points dropped from winning positions in the league this year. That is not how a top-four team operates.

Then Son Heung-min flicked Kieran Trippier’s cross into the net and the away end erupted. It felt immediately like one of the most important moments in Spurs’ season. Those two extra points moved them up to third, level with Manchester City, who play this evening. They are closer to first place than to fifth and, when Mauricio Pochettino admitted “the numbers reflect that it is possible”, it was the closest he has come yet to saying Tottenham are in the title race.

The season is only halfway through and this late winner might point to something that will be even more important over its second phase. That is because on Monday afternoon, against competitive opponents, on an inhibiting pitch, they managed to rescue a game they looked to have squandered. For all the talk about a new, winning mentality, here was some physical proof.

“It was a fantastic victory,” Pochettino said. “Liverpool had a lot of problems here and lost 3-0, but we managed the game well, and on a very difficult pitch. It wasn’t easy, but the maturity we showed and the way we fought was fantastic.”

Erik Lamela is congratulated on his goal

Had Spurs drawn this game, it would have been one of their most infuriating results of the season. Not only had they led for most of the first half, before conceding to Odion Ighalo, but had also failed to exploit a numerical advantage for most of the second half. With almost 30 minutes left, Nathan Ake went in on Erik Lamela recklessly and at thigh height, and referee Anthony Taylor sent him off.

It was Watford, though, who reacted more strongly, the work of their 10 men outstripping what Spurs’ 11 could do and when Ben Watson’s inswinging corner surprised everyone near the end, goal-line technology showed it was only millimetres away from putting Watford 2-1 up.

Watford 1 Tottenham 2 player ratings

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1/8Watford 1 Tottenham 2 player ratings

Watford 1 Tottenham 2 player ratings

WATFORD

Gomes: 5
Despite his eight clean sheets this season there still remains a sense of unreliability from Gomes, who was caught out by one corner when Spurs should have scored. He could do nothing about the goal and in truth had little else to do before smartly claiming the ball off Son’s feet. His unreliability was proven as he was found well off his line for Son’s winner.

Anya: 6
His defensive deficiencies were rarely exposed as Tottenham steadfastly refused to pile numbers down Watford’s weaker right hand side. In all it was a quiet game for the Scottish international, who was rarely found wanting.

Cathcart: 6
Criminally careless in midfield early on, giving the ball away as Tottenham went on to score their opener. It was the only mistake he made, but it was a disappointing one as he did not give Spurs another good chance.

Watford 1 Tottenham 2 player ratings

WATFORD

Britos: 5
The disciplinary problems that blighted Britos at Napoli seemed to rear their heads again as the defender struggled to deal with the direct running of Spurs’ young forwards. He was lucky to pick up only a yellow early in the second. Removed for Prodl before he got himself sent off.

Ake: 7
An outstanding tackle in the area in the early period against Kane set the tone for an encouraging display by the Chelsea loanee, who was full of defensive gusto whilst looking to overlap beyond Jurado. Would have every right to feel aggrieved over a red card for what was a high, but not criminally dangerous, challenge.

Abdi: 5
Could hardly complain when he was hooked off at half-time as far too often he was simply bypassed when Tottenham looked to counter.

GETTY IMAGES

Watford 1 Tottenham 2 player ratings

WATFORD

Capoue: 5
Perhaps he was overawed by the prospect of a reunion with his former employers, because the dominant midfield presence of recent months was not often to be seen at Vicarage Road. Bar a few efforts from outside the area he did little of note.

Watson: 6
Solid as ever in the heart of Watford’s midfield, he made himself a tough player to get past whenever Tottenham looked to stream forward.

Juardo: 6
The only one of Watford’s midfielders to provide much threat in attack, he looked to make the most of Trippier’s eagerness to bomb on. Though he cut inside often he never looked like crafting a shooting opportunity for either himself or his team-mates.

Watford 1 Tottenham 2 player ratings

WATFORD

Ighalo: 7
Spent most of the opening 45 minutes on the sidelines of the contest but when an opportunity fell to him he was yet again more than up to the task. The goal inspired him and his pacey running posed plenty more challenges to Spurs in the second half.

Deeney: 5
Struggled far more than his strike partner with Tottenham’s back five, dropping wide, deep and anywhere else he could to try to find space to operate. Whilst he had plenty of the ball he didn’t often look like he would do much with it.

Best off the bench: Behrami: 5
Offered little more than Abdi after replacing him for the second half as yet again the Watford anchorman struggled to follow Tottenham’s fast and fluid front three.

Watford 1 Tottenham 2 player ratings

TOTTENHAM

Lloris: 5
Was uncharacteristically slow off his line as Ighalo pouched an equaliser from close range. It was his only significant call to action and he was found wanting.

Trippier: 7
The addition of an extra body to the Spur’s backline gave Trippier licence to get forward, which he exploited ably. He could have had an assist after a dreamy cross for Kane.

Alderweireld: 7
Constantly alert to Deeney’s attempts to slip behind him down the left, which he covered with ease. He cut out one pass from the Watford striker on the aftermath with considerable élan, scarcely worried that Ighalo would surely have scored if he had misjudged his move.

Watford 1 Tottenham 2 player ratings

TOTTENHAM

Vertonghen: 6
Another to flourish in a back five, he came forward at will to showcase his fine passing range. With just two in the Spurs midfield Vertonghen’s ability to dictate the play from deep was vital for the visitors.

Rose: 5
Did not quite make the most of his chances to bomb on down the left flank, particularly with Watford posing little attacking threat on his side of the pitch. It was all too rare that Rose, such a pacey attacking presence, was seen in the opposition’s third of the pitch.

Dier: 6
Looked as at ease in the heart of Tottenham’s defence as he had in midfield, offering a spare man whilst Alderweireld and Vertonghen dealt with Watford’s front two. However he was found wanting when Ighalo brought the hosts level as he was all too easily turned by the striker.

Watford 1 Tottenham 2 player ratings

TOTTENHAM

Dembele: 5
Seemed a touch off the pace in the first period, and it was little surprise when Christian Eriksen was brought on before the half was over.

Lamela: 8
Flourished in his role in Pochettino’s reconstituted attacking trio, ably switching positions with Kane to allow himself space to run at the Watford backline. When he is able to play his natural attacking game he is unquestionably a force to be reckoned with.

Alli: 7
The passing was as accurate as ever from the youngster, who seemed to have few difficulties playing on the left of a front three nor when he was pushed back alongside Carroll. In the centre of the pitch he tackled well, won the ball in the air and prompted attacks. Another impressive display from the youngster.

Watford 1 Tottenham 2 player ratings

TOTTENHAM

Carroll: 6
Rarely put a foot wrong in the heart of midfield, neat and tidy in possession, but then he rarely stated his case for a more regular starting slot by doing something to ask questions of the Watford defence.

Kane: 7<
His 2015 had got off to the biggest of bangs as he inspired Tottenham past Chelsea and he will have little reason to be disappointed with how it ended, even if it did not include a goal. Full of running, he dovetailed well with Lamela and, on another day, might have converted a chance.

Eriksen: 6
One of those games where Eriksen was too ponderous in possession to challenge the Watford defence, and indeed his lack of zip in the second period was rather damaging for the visitors, who couldn’t craft a way behind Watford.

Best off the bench: Heung-min Son: 7
A quiet presence off the bench until his late winner, expertly taken with a backheel worthy of deciding any contest.

Spurs looked to be digging in for a point, which is what made it so surprising that they were the side who won it, thanks to Trippier’s run down the right and Son’s clever finish.

Watford were crestfallen, having given so much but come away with nothing. “I am proud of the players because they fight a lot, had a very big soul, amazing spirit and amazing desire,” said their manager, Quique Sanchez Flores. “But the first feeling is sadness because we were really close to winning.”

It was a feisty, scrappy second half, a very different place from the tactical battle before half-time. In Pochettino’s 83rd game as Spurs head coach, he went to a back three for the first time, dropping Eric Dier in between Jan Vertonghen and Toby Alderweireld in the hope of shackling Watford’s strike pair. Pochettino had seen what Troy Deeney and Ighalo had done to Liverpool on the break and wanted to avoid the same problems.

Odion Ighalo

Tottenham took the lead with a goal of incisive quality. Craig Cathcart spent too much time on the ball and gifted it to Dele Alli. Lamela seized control and drove forward as Miguel Britos backed away. When Lamela reached the edge of the box, the Argentine used Britos as a shield, stroking the ball through the defender’s legs and into Heurelho Gomes’ far bottom corner.

Nathan Ake is sent off (GETTY IMAGES)

Spurs missed chances to go 2-0 up and might have regretted it when Watford equalised just before the break. Ighalo had his back to Dier, on the edge of the box, when he controlled a header from Troy Deeney. Dier tried to head the ball away but Ighalo twisted and put the ball through his legs, finishing past Hugo Lloris. Too many times moments like that have cost Spurs. On Monday, they made sure it did not.

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